FREE.99 - Interview

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us a bit about Free.99?

FREE.99

"Gay™ dyad spirit-surfing the web 3.0 hellscape cyber-shaman style"

"Landian-Kali Yuga Information Awareness Office"

"band. songs."

izzy: we synchronistically met on twitter, having no mutuals or anything. right away we started having all day phone calls & decided to start a project & get married & stuff lol. we're modern hunter-gatherers so we wanted to do some nomadic s*** & embark on creative & spiritual exploration.

echo: big fun in furbyland.

interests: the internet as magic & a dowsing rod // NEURAHYGENICS + The Nujective View // finding intention in glitches & features in bugs // forming language to represent the ever-evolving verbs of phenomenology // a universal brain w/ people as neurons // being transgender // constant stimulation & violent cycling between inputs & impulses // mending the large-scale shattering of community & familial social bonds // intersection of nature+tech // capitalism as violence // trauma reduction.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us about your most recent full-length release titled, 'TRAUMA REDUCTION PRAYER.'

FREE.99

izzy: the release of art brings with it the release of emotions entangling with & informing the work. our pain screams at us, we scream into the music, the music screams at you, you scream back catharsis. many tears were shed in the making. may your suffering be reduced.

echo: ...

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Many of your audience seemed to respond well to the track, 'EVAPORATE.' Can you tell us a bit about that track in particular?

FREE.99

izzy: its kind of an amalgamation of 3 songs we were working on. but its original title was JOUHATSU, the Japanese term for ppl that purposefully disappear themselves. its partly about that desire, either due to necessity (like leaving an abusive household) or even just not wanting to buy into / adhere to accepted standards of living that harm us. anti-capitalist s*** in short but its rlly encompassing a lot. revolutionary suicide.

echo: we wanted to encapsulate growing up gutter online like mass-voting newgrounds flashes on Tor while making nightcore on R2R-cracked software. that Mario Savio speech resonated rly hard w me at the time, "you've got to throw your body upon the gears!" because it's like, unwillingly, you've been reduced to an expendable cog in some massive uncaring machine, and there's a moral imperative to get the f*** out of it, learn what it even it is. OUT FOR BLOOD as a whole is call-to-action for hikikomori to log out for a bit and reconnect w the mana tree, submerged under standardized rave s***. kill the buddha, go grocery shopping in a dress, get called a f*****, rejoice.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

How is identity reflected in your music?

FREE.99

izzy: particles reflected in the mirror of a dying girl experiencing satori in angelspace // tone-fragments of AVATAR dampened translucent by glass-rectangle corporate "s*** is so f*****" mindsludge // creating self through myth // a creature of God // a ghost in a machine.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Can you elaborate on the significance of the bio for, 'OUT FOR BLOOD'

"EVERY MOMENT IS TEARDROP-TRANSIENT

EMPATHETIC FINGERTIP QUICK TO ERASE

A TRILLION STORED TEARDROPS IN A BRAIN

ZERO-ONE TO ENTROPY'S HIDE-CRY LOOP

CORRUPTED SALINE DRIP

DEFAULT MODE GLITCHING CODERUST

LEAKING OCTARINE EVERESENCE"

FREE.99

echo: my friend was having a kundalini awakening so i wrote this for her. i've got near total aphantasia / no internal monologue and it's a bit of a handicap except for being present, which is what i was trying to describe.

translated a bit:

moment = teardrop

teardrops = synapses

zero-one = binary

hide-cry loop = samsara (0 HIDE 1 CRY 0 PUSH AWAY)

everesence = advaita vedanta, god's eye view, the view from nowhen, interdependent co-arising.

every moment is impermanent // quick to push away moments, quick to wipe a tear from the eye of a suffering friend // the suppressed teardrops of every moment in a brain that is all beings // on-offing neurons eventually giving out as everything does to entropy // corrupted tears stop the loop from closing--Default Mode Network glitching out // parasympathetic fully f***** but the jewel was always in the lotus so.. chill // "so it goes" & "this too shall pass."

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Talk to us about the alias FREE.99.

FREE.99

izzy: under capitalism most everything has a price tag (despite being otherwise free) // self-sovereignty // precipices // izzy used the phrase before & it just kinda, came naturally.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

Tell us a bit about the visual design behind your duo's visuals.

FREE.99

echo: harmony korine, linklater & park chan-wook mixed with like 2013 tumblr feed-scrolling and 2008 malware pop-ups. really inspired by weirdo voyeuristic low-view internet content, and too much s*** to name, really. The Matrix (1999), Abe's Oddysee, Jamie Hewlett, Bill Waterson, Basquiat, DONDI WHITE, Chris Cunningham, Zdzisław Beksiński, 3eyestakashi and SNES-era jrpgs factor in heavy, and like.. Neopets, Windows 98 UI, early Blizzard games, all kinds of eternal september-ass computer aesthetics. echo grew up drawing and didn't start making music til way later so the visuals are really important. a lot easier to finish also, less finicky with that s*** than sound for some reason.

ETHEREAL.PRESS

What's next for Free99?

FREE.99

izzy: THE WOUND AND THE STITCH MEET has been running in the background of our other works for a while now. it's an intricately woven album / short story / game. we really wanna make a film in the future too. become farmers. build more community. be less sad. idk.

++ echo is putting out a solo release soon called "DIVINE KILLCAM INFINITY" featuring me & some other peeps, tba :3c.

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FREE.99: TWITTER - BANDCAMP